5 Days 4 Nights
Group Tour – Fixed Dates
20 people
English
Sofia (1N) – Plovdiv (1N) – Veliko Tarnovo (1N) – Bucharest (1N) · departs every Thursday
Golden-domed churches, a Roman theatre still in use, valleys that smell of roses and a royal capital perched above a canyon — this 5 Days Bulgaria and Romania Tour Package packs two of Europe’s least-crowded countries into one easy guided week-break, from Sofia to Bucharest across the Danube. It is planned and supported by IMAD Travel, an IATA-certified travel agency in Hyderabad serving travellers from across India since 2011. Prefer to travel on your own? Our team can also arrange this same route, or a similar one, as a custom package for your family or group, with your own dates, hotels and pace — just quote the tour code IMAD-EU-61499 when you contact us.
WhatsApp +91 63003 03169 for Thursday departure dates or a custom version of this tour. Tour code: IMAD-EU-61499
Hotels with breakfast, two lunches and one dinner, guided city tours of Sofia, Plovdiv and Bucharest, the coach with an English-speaking guide, and admissions at the Sofia Cathedral, Plovdiv, Kazanlak, Arbanasi and Basarbovo are arranged before you leave.
Your tour begins in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, a city where Roman ruins, Ottoman mosques and Soviet-era boulevards sit side by side under the slopes of Mount Vitosha. On the afternoon city tour you step inside the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (admission included), whose gold-leaf domes are the city’s landmark, see the small Russian Church with its onion domes, the Banya Bashi mosque, and the wide squares and avenues built in the Stalinist style. The evening is free to try Bulgarian salads, yoghurt and banitsa pastry in the cafés of Vitosha Boulevard.
The next morning the coach heads into the Rhodope foothills to Bachkovo Monastery, founded in the 11th century and the second most important monastery in Bulgaria, a peaceful courtyard of frescoed churches. Then comes Plovdiv, inhabited for more than 6,000 years and one of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in Europe. After an included lunch, the guided tour takes you into the Roman Amphitheatre, still used for summer concerts, the Old Pharmacy and the richly painted Armenian House in the cobbled Old Town of 19th-century merchants’ homes (admissions included).
Day 3 is the most scenic day of the tour, through the Balkan Mountains that gave the whole region its name. In the Rose Valley around Kazanlak — source of much of the world’s rose oil — you see the replica of the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, a UNESCO site with 2,300-year-old frescoes (admission included), and learn how the famous rose products are made. High in the pass, the golden domes of the Shipka Memorial Church honour the soldiers of the Russo-Turkish war. At Etar, an open-air village of water mills and craft workshops, lunch is included before you continue to Arbanasi, a merchants’ village of fortress-like stone houses, to see the frescoes of the Nativity Church (admission included).
The night is in Veliko Tarnovo, capital of the medieval Bulgarian kingdom, whose old houses climb the steep cliffs of the Yantra river canyon. Take an evening walk along the craftsmen’s street of Samovodska Charshia and look across to Tsarevets Fortress, the hill where the tsars once ruled.
On the last full day you visit Basarbovo Monastery, the only working rock monastery in Bulgaria, carved into a limestone cliff (admission included), then cross the mighty Danube into Romania. You reach Bucharest around lunchtime, and a panoramic tour shows you the historic centre and the vast Palace of the Parliament, one of the largest buildings in the world. After some free time to explore, a farewell dinner is included.
This 5 days Bulgaria and Romania tour of Sofia, Plovdiv, the Rose Valley, Veliko Tarnovo and Bucharest suits travellers who have only a few days of leave; repeat Europe visitors who want somewhere new and good value; history lovers drawn to Thracian, Roman and Orthodox heritage; and travellers combining it with a longer holiday — it ends in Bucharest, the starting city of our 13 days Balkans tour. It also works well as a short add-on before or after a business trip to the region.
May to June and September to October are lovely for sightseeing, and late May to early June is rose-picking season in the Rose Valley; July and August are warm and sunny, while winter departures bring quieter sites and snow on the mountains. Departures are on Thursdays. Bulgaria and Romania are part of the Schengen area, so Indian passport holders need a Schengen visa — our visa team prepares the file, so start about two to three months before travel.
Breakfast is included every day, with lunches in Plovdiv and Etar and dinner in Bucharest; other meals are on your own, and Sofia and Bucharest have vegetarian and Indian restaurants. Day 3 has a long, scenic drive with several stops, and on some dates the Arbanasi visit is moved to the next morning. Bring comfortable shoes for the cobbled old towns. International flights into Sofia and out of Bucharest are booked separately — our team can book them from any Indian city. Prices start from €850 per person (₹93,500 at €1 = ₹110, October 2026) on twin sharing, excluding GST and TCS, and are recalculated for your exact travel dates and season.
Continue from Bucharest on the 13 days Balkans tour through Transylvania, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Bled and Venice, or discover another hidden corner of Europe on the 6 days Albania tour of Berat, Gjirokaster and the Blue Eye. For classic history, see the 10 days Greece tour with Athens, Meteora, Mykonos and Santorini. See every route on our Europe tour packages from India page.
WhatsApp +91 63003 03169 for Thursday departure dates or a custom version of this tour. Tour code: IMAD-EU-61499
Welcome to Sofia. Transfer from the airport to your hotel, where you receive the details of your tour. At about 3 pm, city tour of Bulgaria’s capital: the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Russian Church, the mosque and the city’s Stalinist-era squares and avenues. Rest of the day free. Overnight in Sofia.
Morning visit to Bachkovo Monastery, founded in the 11th century. Continue to Plovdiv for lunch (included) and a tour of one of Europe’s oldest cities, with admission to the Roman Amphitheatre, the Old Pharmacy and the Armenian House. Breakfast and lunch included. Overnight in Plovdiv.
Through the Balkan Mountains to Kazanlak in the Rose Valley to see the Thracian Tomb replica (admission included) and learn about local rose products. Stop at the Shipka Memorial Church and visit Etar village and ethnographic museum, with lunch included. Then Arbanasi and its Nativity Church (admission included; occasionally visited on Sunday morning), ending in Veliko Tarnovo. Breakfast and lunch included. Overnight in Veliko Tarnovo.
Visit Basarbovo, a rock-carved monastery and pilgrimage site, then cross the border and the Danube into Romania, arriving in Bucharest around 1 pm. Afternoon panoramic tour of the historic centre and the Palace of the Parliament, then free time. Breakfast and dinner included. Overnight in Bucharest.
After breakfast, the tour ends. Our team can arrange your airport transfer, an extra night in Bucharest and your flight home.
